


Learn To Fly

by RisemboolRanger



Category: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu | The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi
Genre: Adventure, F/M, Fantasy, Friendship, Multi, Romance, School, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2013-11-18
Packaged: 2017-11-20 00:12:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/579152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisemboolRanger/pseuds/RisemboolRanger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Avery Shimizu has never been much of a social butterfly. When she discovers the SOS Brigade she sees it as a chance to spread her wings. But she may have gotten more than she bargained for when she discovers their true identities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Biting The Bullet

_Welcome to the S.O.S. Brigade website! We search for the existence of aliens, espers, time travellers and other freaky phenomena. The world is filled with mysteries and we are here to solve it!_

Avery Shimizu loved the paranormal. She spent a great deal of her spare time reading up on alien encounters, learning the procedures of ghost hunting and researching the theory behind time travel. So when she came across the website for the S.O.S. Brigade one night, she was definitely intrigued.

She was surprised to find that it was a club actually based at her school, North High. Her mother had been pestering her lately to join in with some extracurricular activities. Avery knew she was right. She was such a wallflower at school – she really needed to make friends and get involved a bit more.

The S.O.S. Brigade. A club that actively searched for supernatural goings-on. She couldn’t have asked for a more perfect club.

After perusing the site a bit more, she found that the club was hosted in the old literary clubroom. She knew where that was. And now she knew what she was going to be doing after school tomorrow. She closed her laptop, feeling positive and uncharacteristically decisive.

**XXX**

This was it – the old literary club. Avery hesitated outside the door before finally rapping her knuckles firmly on the wooden frame. If she didn’t do this now, then she was going to continue to be just as shy and unsociable later on in life.

Inside the clubroom, the S.O.S. Brigade members, except for Yuki, exchanged confused glances. Everybody there was accounted for. Who on earth could be knocking? Even Haruhi looked briefly confused, though of course, her vigorous attitude quickly replaced that.

“Kyon, get the door!” she ordered.

“Why do I have to do it?” protested Kyon. Haruhi always made him do everything – from shopping for supplies to paying everyone’s lunch bill.

“Because I’m the club leader and I said so!” barked Haruhi.

It was a stupid point, but Kyon knew that arguing with Haruhi was always going to be futile. With a sigh, he reluctantly got to his feet and made for the door. When he opened it, he found a petite girl with long, strawberry blonde hair reaching almost to her knees.

“Are you lost?” asked Kyon. It was the only reasonable explanation he could think of for why some strange girl would be knocking on the door of their clubroom.

“Erm, I was looking for the S.O.S. Brigade,” said Avery hesitantly. She was then met by stares, making her question if she really had come to the right room after all.

Unsurprisingly, it was Haruhi who broke the silence. “And what exactly do you want with the S.O.S. Brigade?” she asked, half suspicious and half curious. Even she was confused by the surprise visitor.

“Well... I was kinda hoping I could join,” replied Avery awkwardly. 

If she thought they’d been staring at her before, it was nothing compared to now. You could have heard a pin drop. Avery felt uncomfortable. Was it really that weird that somebody new wanted to join their club? Were they discriminating against her in some way? This was why she’d always avoided making the first step towards friendships with new people.

Haruhi got up from her chair and stalked over towards the door. Avery had to fight the urge to take a wary step back – she wasn’t sure what it was, but this girl came across as very intimidating. “You _really_ wanna join the S.O.S. Brigade?”

“Erm, yeah... If that’s okay?” said Avery, still feeling awkward. Maybe they weren’t going to let her join.

What she didn’t expect was for the girl to explode into a tornado of excitement. “That’s more than okay. That’s _perfect_!” She grabbed Avery’s arm and dragged her forcibly into the room.

“Hey, wait...” protested Avery, but Haruhi didn’t even seem to hear her.

“Normally, we interview people first and we make them take a test,” Haruhi jabbered. “But in this case, we’ll make an exception and let you join free of charge!”

“What are you talking about? You don’t interview anybody; you just kidnap strangers and force them to join,” Kyon pointed out. “And we definitely don’t charge anybody – that doesn’t even make sense!”

Haruhi ignored him, like always. She was practically dragging Avery round in circles, trying to decide where to get her to sit. “Here, you can sit next to Mikuru! Kyon, you’ll have to go and get another chair if you want to sit down.”

Kyon sighed again. Of course, Haruhi would give away his chair and not her own.

“Oh, it’s okay, I don’t want to take your seat or anything,” Avery apologised quickly, as she was forcibly plonked into the empty seat next to a younger girl with long hair. She felt quite dizzy after being pulled all the way around the room. What kind of club was this?

“It’s okay, don’t worry,” said Kyon with a casual wave of his hand. He was just going to blame Haruhi anyway. “I’ll go get another chair.”

“You could sound a bit more enthusiastic about it!” Haruhi shouted after his retreating back. “We have a new club member! You should be excited!”

She then started to jabber introductions, which Avery couldn’t keep up with at all. She spoke so fast. All she was able to distinguish from her spiel was that she was the club leader – no surprise there – and that her name was Haruhi Suzumiya. The boy she’d called Kyon soon returned, carrying an extra chair, just as Haruhi was convincing Avery to move her seat closer to the girl sat beside her.

“See? You could almost be Mikuru’s older sister!” she exclaimed happily.

“How did you work that one out?” asked Kyon, raising an eyebrow. He couldn’t see any similarities between the two, besides the fact that they were both girls and both had long, light-coloured hair. The basis of Haruhi’s declaration seemed quite thin.

“Duh, because their hair’s nearly the same colour!” said Haruhi, like the reason was obvious.

“Well, if you go by that logic, then that would mean that we look like we’re related too,” said Kyon sarcastically.

“Now you’re just being stupid. We don’t look anything alike!”

As they continued their debate over Haruhi’s poorly made point, Avery looked desperately towards the other club members for some sign of normality. The girl named Mikuru was busy watching Haruhi nervously – she seemed fearful of the attention being turned on her again. The girl sat across from them had her nose in a book and didn’t seem to have even realised that there was a new person in the room.

The boy sat next to the girl with the book was also watching the debate like Mikuru was, but with a cheerful look on his face. He looked familiar – Avery must have seen him around school. When he noticed Avery looking at him, he gave her a friendly smile. “Believe it or not, this is actually pretty ordinary for us.”

Avery wasn’t sure if his words were comforting or not, but at least it seemed like Haruhi was the only crazy one here. She smiled back, trying to seem at ease. “Well, I guess I chose an interesting club to join at least.”

“You’re in class nine, right?”

“Err, yeah,” said Avery, surprised.

“Me too.” The boy smiled again and held out his hand across the desk. “I’m Itsuki Koizumi.”

That was why she recognised him. The realisation made Avery feel a little ashamed. She really was a hermit – she kept to herself so much that she couldn’t even place her own classmates. Well, this was what she was here to change. She wasn’t going to be a wallflower for the rest of her life.

As if proving that thought to herself, she took Itsuki’s hand and gave it a firm shake. “Avery Shimizu.”

The exchange seemed to recapture Haruhi’s attention, because she was suddenly right in front of Avery’s face. “Avery? That’s so pretty!”

“Oh. Thanks,” said Avery, remembering to smile. She wasn’t really used to compliments. She was much more used to being ignored.

Haruhi was still inspecting her closely. “Hmm... I do still think you look like you could be Mikuru’s sister. But you don’t have big boobs like she does, so maybe that wouldn’t work after all.”

“Erm, what?” Avery stared at her in surprise, feeling a light blush colour her cheeks. What did her figure have to do with anything?

“Just look at her! She’s totally cute and she has amazing boobs!” exclaimed Haruhi, pulling Mikuru’s arms up to keep her from hiding her chest. Mikuru protested and tried to squirm out of her grip. “That’s why she’s our mascot. But don’t worry, we’ll find a use for you too!”

“A use?” repeated Avery nervously.

“Yeah! Yuki’s the bookworm and Koizumi’s the mysterious exchange student,” explained Haruhi enthusiastically, indicating the two students that were sat opposite Avery. “And Kyon’s just the dogsbody.”

“Well, at least you realise you always make me do all the grunt work,” Kyon grumbled, which Haruhi ignored.

“But I’m sure we can think of an exciting role for you,” she promised Avery.

“Oh, you don’t have to...” started Avery, but Haruhi just continued to ramble on, unaware that Avery had even said anything. She’d only wanted to try and become a bit more sociable. She’d thought this had seemed like the perfect club for her, but what on earth had she actually gotten herself into?

Eventually, Haruhi seemed to pull herself together. “So what made you want to join the S.O.S. Brigade? Did you hear about how awesome we were?”

Kyon coughed loudly, in a poor attempt to conceal the words, “Yeah right.”

Avery tried not to let that put her off. “Well, I saw the website for it and it said about aliens and espers and time travellers... And, erm, I dunno. I just thought that sounded kinda cool,” she finished lamely.

What she really wanted was to be as enthusiastic as Haruhi and gush over how fascinating she found anything to do with the paranormal. But with everyone’s eyes on her, she couldn’t pluck up that much courage. Hopefully, in time, she could show more of that enthusiasm.

Luckily, Haruhi didn’t seem to find her answer lame at all. Instead, she beamed at her. “That’s fantastic! Well, you’ve definitely come to the right place; I’m sure you’ll fit in here! Right, guys?”

She turned to the others, who took it as their cue to respond. “That’s right,” agreed Itsuki cheerfully – the smile had never left his face.

Haruhi then looked to Yuki. “Right, Yuki?”

The quiet girl didn’t even look up from her book. “Right,” she responded monotonously.

“Mikuru?” Haruhi prompted. The younger girl jumped when she heard her name. “Isn’t that right?”

“Err, yes. I mean, right,” she stammered in a soft voice.

“I told you!” Haruhi beamed again, her attention back to Avery. “Congratulations, you’re now an official member of the S.O.S. Brigade!”

Avery noticed that Haruhi hadn’t asked Kyon for his agreement, like she had with the others. She gave him a questioning look and he simply shrugged. “Welcome to the asylum.”


	2. The Mummy Walks At Twilight?

The S.O.S Brigade wasn’t anything quite like Avery had expected. Firstly, she’d learnt that the name of the club stood for ‘Spreading Excitement All Over The World With Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade’, which didn’t even sound like it was anything to do with aliens, time travellers or espers.

Secondly, there was Haruhi herself. Avery may not have been the most sociable of girls, but she still knew that Haruhi defied everything she’d ever known about people or even social conventions in general. It was a pretty easy assumption to make that there was nobody else quite like Haruhi Suzumiya.

And finally, the club didn’t seem to really do anything. She’d half expected the group to be constantly researching into unusual phenomena, staging ghost hunts, trying to track down UFOs or even joining some crazy cult or religion... But it seemed that even Haruhi herself didn’t quite know what to do with the S.O.S. Brigade.

Still, Avery stuck to her decision to join. If she left the S.O.S. Brigade now, then what other club would she join instead? So she turned up at the clubroom every afternoon after classes had finished without fail. Even though, so far, they hadn’t done anything interesting or exciting like the club’s website had suggested.

The boys would play Othello or some other board game, Yuki would sit in a corner and read, Mikuru would be forced into a ridiculous maid’s outfit and have to serve them all tea, Haruhi would flit about doing whatever she liked, and Avery... Avery generally just sat and watched the others.

Despite spending quite a lot of time around these people, she still didn’t feel comfortable instigating conversation or trying to suggest new activities to them. To be fair to the others, they always tried to keep her included. They almost went out of their way to do so. The boys encouraged her to play Othello several times, but she wasn’t very good at it and kept losing spectacularly.

And honestly? She found it far more interesting to sit back and observe this unusual group of individuals. Excluding herself from social situations simply came naturally to her anyway.

“Try not to make the really obvious moves,” Kyon told her.

Avery stopped in her tracks as she’d been reaching for one of the black and white pieces. Kyon had persuaded her to take his place in another game of Othello against Itsuki and was now trying to coach her. Apparently, the other members of the club seemed bothered by how she didn’t participate much. Yet Yuki was always allowed to read by herself without being interrupted. Avery had a feeling that there was a double standard in here somewhere.

“Right,” she said, feeling flustered as she went for a different piece.

“When you go for the easier moves, it makes it easier for your opponent to figure out what you’re going to do next and plan a strategy against you,” Itsuki added helpfully, his usual smile on his face.

“Right,” Avery repeated, changing her mind again and trying to look for a different move that she could make. Logic really wasn’t one of her strong points. She found thinking logically to be rather boring. And she really didn’t intend to be playing this game much in the future anyway.

Plus the lesson clearly didn’t help. She still lost the game anyway. But Avery guessed that as long as she wasn’t being forced to dress up like Mikuru, then she couldn’t really complain.

“Urgh! I don’t wanna do this stupid essay!” Haruhi complained loudly. She was sat with her feet up on the computer desk, a frown etched deeply into her face. She seemed to be in a particularly bad mood.

“What’s the essay about?” Itsuki asked politely. He seemed to be the only who didn’t fear Haruhi’s notorious bad moods.

“We have to describe the lifestyle from a period of history in detail,” replied Haruhi grumpily. “But most of history’s so boring! I don’t wanna write about slaves or wars. Who would wanna write about that kind of stuff?”

Kyon rolled his eyes. “You should be grateful. Think how much worse it would be if you’d had to have lived those lifestyles yourself.”

“Who cares anyway?” said Haruhi childishly. “That stuff’s all in the past. I don’t care about the past. I care about the future!”

“You could write about Ancient Egyptians,” Avery suggested. Haruhi shot her a sudden look and she recoiled slightly, timidly adding, “I mean... I think that stuff’s kinda cool.”

Haruhi put her feet down and gave her a scrutinising look across the desk. “You mean like mummies and pyramids and stuff?”

Avery gave a half shrug. “Um, yeah, pretty much.” The Ancient Egyptians were one of her favourite periods of history. She found their superstitions and way of life fascinating. Plus it also happened to be part of her weekend job. She didn’t really appreciate the rather judgemental look that Haruhi was giving her.

“That’s a great idea!” Haruhi exclaimed suddenly, her face lighting up with enthusiasm. “It’s perfect – why didn’t I think of that? Mummies are awesome!”

Avery felt relieved. “Oh... Good. I’m glad you think so.”

“It actually isn’t a bad idea,” Kyon commended her. “For Haruhi anyway. It’s definitely right up her street.”

Avery just shrugged again. “Oh, well, I work at the museum and that’s my main exhibit. It’s something I’ve always been interested in, so it’s generally the first thing that springs to mind.”

“Oh, you work at that museum downtown?” Kyon asked conversationally.

“Just part-time,” Avery replied. “On weekends. My mom’s the museum curator.”

“You work at the museum?” Haruhi suddenly exclaimed, jumping up from her chair. “And your mom _owns_ it?”

“Well, she doesn’t technically own it, but I guess she is in charge,” said Avery, taken aback by Haruhi’s sudden interest in her weekend job.

“That’s perfect!”

“What’s perfect?” asked Kyon. As always, he had no idea what was going through Haruhi’s head.

Haruhi ignored him. “We’ll go to the museum at night and do a stakeout! Everything creepy always happens at night – maybe the mummies will actually come back to life!”

“Aaand here we go...” Kyon groaned.

“Um, I don’t think we’d be allowed there at night,” Avery pointed out. “It’d probably be against the museum’s policy.”

“But you’ll ask, won’t you?” Haruhi demanded, grabbing Avery’s hands and getting far to close to her face. “Your mom _runs_ the museum. Surely she’ll make an exception for us if she knows it’s for the club!”

What did she think Avery had told her mom about the S.O.S. Brigade? But when the club’s leader was all in her personal space like that, she felt like agreeing with her was the only option.

“Okay,” said Avery reluctantly, secretly thinking that there was no way that her mom would allow it. But as long as she still asked, then she was doing what Haruhi wanted, wasn’t she? It wasn’t like she could control what her mom decided.

“Brilliant!” Haruhi cried enthusiastically, releasing Avery’s hands and dancing back round to the computer. “Ask her if we can do it this Friday, then we won’t have to worry about getting up early for school!”

“Why exactly do we all have to go?” asked Kyon. “This is your essay, remember. None of us need to learn about mummies.”

“Because I’m making it a club activity!” said Haruhi impatiently. She’d clearly forgotten all about the actual essay. “It’s mandatory!”

“Club activities aren’t supposed to be mandatory, idiot,” Kyon pointed out. “They’re supposed to be fun. People choose to do them.”

“It will be fun!” Haruhi insisted. “But I’m saying you still have to do it, so it’s mandatory.”

Kyon knew better than anyone that no matter how much he argued with her, it wouldn’t make Haruhi change her mind, despite that fact that Avery clearly hadn’t even asked her mom if it was okay yet. Haruhi seemed to be going with the idea that it would be okay and that she’d get her way, like she always did.

Avery was true to her word and she asked her mom about it that same night. She couldn’t see her agreeing to it in a million years, but she was still determined to ask so that she could at least feel like she’d played her role properly.

And a tiny part of her did actually want her mom to say yes. She genuinely thought that Haruhi’s idea sounded pretty fun. What paranormal-enthusiastic teen wouldn’t want the mummies to walk at midnight? For Avery, it sounded exactly like the kind of adventure she’d always wanted. Not to mention she knew she’d feel a little more socially accepted amongst the group if she could do this for them. She had to give her best effort at this. So that night, she asked her mom over dinner with an ace up her sleeve.

“Um, Mom, can I ask a favour?”

“That depends on what it is,” Rimu Shimizu smiled. She’d always had a teasing, humorous nature that Avery had never been able to imitate.

“Well, I told the club about the museum and Haruhi was wondering if we could go there on a night and watch the Egyptian exhibit?” said Avery, pushing rice around her bowl with her chopsticks.

Rimu looked surprised and not just at the request. It was the first time she’d heard Avery refer to one of the S.O.S. Brigade by name, as an individual, rather than the club as a whole. It made her feel more confident that her daughter really had made new friends, rather than just seeing the club as another academic activity.

But either way, it wasn’t really a request she could agree to. “Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. It’s nice that your friend’s taking such an interest in where you work, but I just can’t allow you all to do that. It would be breaching several of the museum’s policies.”

“Yeah, I figured that’d be the case,” said Avery forlornly. “But my friends were just so excited about that idea that I had to at least ask.”

She made sure she put a bit of emphasis into the word ‘friends’. That was the ace up her sleeve. After all, it was Rimu who’d been pushing her for so long to try and make new friends. Avery knew it would make it a little harder for her to say no. Did that make her manipulative? It wasn’t exactly like what she’d said wasn’t true.

Like she’d expected, Rimu bit her lip, looking torn. “Well, I can’t let you all stay there during the night – I know that for definite. But I could ask the director to cover the morning for me and maybe see if I can oversee a twilight shift for you all instead. I’ll still be there, and so will security, but the museum _will_ be closed.”

That sounded fairly promising. It wasn’t exactly what Haruhi had wanted, but it would still be starting to get dark by then and there wouldn’t be anyone else there besides Avery’s mom and a few security guards. Going by what Rimu had said about the museum’s policies, it was likely the best they were going to get.

“Yeah, okay,” said Avery brightly. “I think they’ll like that.”

“Good,” Rimu smiled. “I wouldn’t want to put you in bad graces with your new friends.”

Again, just like Avery had expected. Maybe she understood people better than she thought. Well... She understood her mom anyway. Other people were likely to be more of a challenge. Haruhi especially.

The S.O.S. Brigade leader was disappointed that they couldn’t do a midnight tour like she’d wanted, but once Avery explained about the twilight shift that Rimu had offered, she regained all of her enthusiasm at once. Avery had even managed to arrange it for the Friday, like Haruhi had requested. 

So that Friday evening, they all met at the museum. Rimu greeted them in the main foyer, then gave them a quick tour of the part of the museum that they’d be staking out. She was highly amused by Avery’s rather abstract group of friends. Especially Haruhi, who unsurprisingly, always attracted everyone’s notice.

She left them to it once they reached the Ancient Egyptians exhibit, knowing that Avery would be able to cover the knowledge on it herself if needed. She left them with a walkie-talkie in case they needed her, informing them of where her office was and where the security guards would be stationed. She then left, saying she’d come back for them again in a few hours.

“Wow, this place is pretty creepy once it starts getting dark,” remarked Kyon. 

They were all leaning against one of the safety barriers, watching the three sarcophagi – two of which were open and the middle one which was closed. Only the museum’s low lighting had been left on in order to keep the electricity down whilst the building was closed.

“I’ve never actually been here this late,” Avery admitted. The museum was never open at this time. But she personally thought that it was cool, rather than creepy. 

Haruhi shared the same view. Who would have thought that two very different girls could possibly think the same? “It’s so cool! I didn’t think it would be as good with it not being properly night time yet, but because it’s already quite dark and there’s not really anyone else here, it’s still really spooky!”

They had a packed dinner of rice balls, sushi and a flask of hot tea – all of which Mikuru had made. Rimu had agreed to allow it as long as they all cleaned up after themselves. By this point, they were all sat on the floor in a rough semi-circle, still facing the exhibit.

They chatted as they ate and Avery found that she was thoroughly enjoying herself, even if this wasn’t the focus of them being here. It felt like what she imagined a slumber party to be like. She said as much out loud, though she edited it slightly so that she didn’t sound quite so much like a social reject.

“I feel like we’re having a slumber party,” she remarked.

“Yeah, all we need now are our PJs and some scary movies!” Haruhi agreed enthusiastically.

“I don’t like scary movies,” Mikuru whimpered. She didn’t seem as comfortable being in the museum as the others did.

“They’re not real, Mikuru. What’s there to be scared of?” Haruhi chastised her. “We should totally have a real slumber party and get you used to them!”

“Really?” asked Avery, trying not to sound too excited. Maybe she’d get to go to a proper slumber party after all.

“Yeah! We can do it at Kyon’s place,” Haruhi decided on the spot.

“Why my place?” Kyon questioned indignantly.

“Because I’m the Brigade leader and I said so,” said Haruhi bossily. “And that way, we can include your little sister too.”

“Yeah, I suppose she would like that,” Kyon conceded reluctantly. He clearly had a soft spot for his little sister.

After about the first hour, however, nothing new had happened and Haruhi’s enthusiasm had rapidly worn off. “I’m booored!” she complained. “I know it’s technically early, but it’s still dark out. The mummies shouldn’t be so picky.”

“I don’t think it’s so much about being picky as it is about being dead for hundreds of years,” Kyon pointed out sarcastically.

“Thousands of years,” Avery corrected him automatically without thinking. He raised his eyebrows at her and she suddenly felt like she was being an irritating know-it-all. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to say you were wrong or anything; I’m just used to going over these facts,” she apologised quickly.

“It’s fine,” said Kyon, sounding amused. “You clearly know your stuff.”

“If you had to do the same thing every weekend, you’d know it too,” Avery smiled. “Luckily, it hasn’t lost any of the appeal. I still think Ancient Egyptians are fascinating.”

“Well, they’re not fascinating right now,” Haruhi grumbled, hugging her knees with a scowl on her face. It didn’t take a genius to know that she wasn’t the most patient of people.

“Why don’t we play a game to pass the time?” Itsuki suggested good-naturedly.

“What game?”

“I Spy?”

Haruhi rolled her eyes. “I Spy’s lame.”

Kyon secretly agreed and he didn’t usually side with Itsuki, but he was getting fed up of Haruhi’s impatience so he chose to ignore her opinion. “I spy with my little eye something beginning with ‘M’,” he said drolly.

“Mummy,” Haruhi, Avery, Itsuki and even Yuki all said in unison.

Kyon’s mouth twitched like he was going to smile. “Alright then. I spy with my little eye something beginning with ‘P’.”

“Pyramid.”

They ended up deriving more amusement from picking the most ridiculously obvious choices and seeing who could guess the fastest, so the game wasted another half hour. There were only so many times that they could use ‘Egyptian’ and ‘sand.’ It seemed to have killed Haruhi’s boredom at least. Now she was just worried about the little time they had left.

“Come on, something needs to happen already!” she pouted after looking at Kyon’s watch for the fifth time. “We’re gonna have to leave soon.”

She reverted back to playing with Mikuru’s hair, which she’d been doing earlier when she’d been feeling bored, and trying to decide new cosplay ideas for her – much to Mikuru’s dismay. Yuki had been reading by herself pretty much the entire time and the boys were now having a quiet conversation out of Haruhi’s earshot.

Avery didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but she couldn’t help but feel curious when she heard Kyon grumble, “Those mummies had just better stay dead.”

She frowned, shuffling a bit closer to them. “Do you really think it’s a possibility that they might not?” The boys both looked a little startled at the interruption and she realised that she’d just admitted she’d been listening in on their conversation. “Um, sorry, I didn’t mean to be nosy or anything, I just kinda overheard...”

“It’s fine,” said Itsuki with his usual smile. He didn’t seem bothered by the idea at all.

“Put it this way...” Kyon told Avery. “I guess you could say that Haruhi always manages to get her way. So it wouldn’t surprise me if a couple of mummies got up and started walking around just to keep her happy.”

That was a joke, right? One thing Avery had always been was open-minded, so she loved to think that what Kyon had just said could actually be a possibility. But he seemed to be the most practical one of the group. Surely he didn’t really believe that was true. He was probably just making an excessive point that Haruhi always got what she wanted.

But no sooner had the thought passed through her head, the lights suddenly went out and threw them all into darkness. Kyon gasped and Mikuru squealed, grabbing onto Haruhi.

“Mikuru!” Haruhi protested. “Get a hold of yourself – it’s only the lights!” But there was a tremor of excitement in her voice. Did she really believe that? Or was this the kind of thing she’d been waiting for?

“It’s probably just a power cut,” said Kyon, trying to sound convincing.

But Itsuki was suddenly on his feet. “Where’s the walkie-talkie?”

“Err, it was here somewhere...” replied Avery, trying to find it on the floor in the dark.

Haruhi managed to locate it amongst the remnants of their little picnic. “I’ve got it!” She held down the button on the side and spoke into the mouth piece. “Mrs. Shimizu? Did they shut the lights off early or something?” There was no reply. “Mrs. Shimizu, can you hear me?”

But there was still nothing. Avery began to fear more for her mom than for their group. A problem with the power wouldn’t affect the walkie-talkies. Was this really more than just a power cut? If so, then what was happening?

“I need to go and find her,” she said, getting to her feet unsteadily in the dark as she tried not to tread on anything.

Itsuki caught her arm and gave her a hand up. “I’ll go with you.”

“Err, thank you,” said Avery in surprise.

“We should all go,” Haruhi decided, getting to her feet too. The others followed one by one. “But we’ll never be able to find our way anywhere like this/”

“Here,” said a quiet voice. There was suddenly a beam of light, revealing Yuki with a flash light in her hand. She seemed completely unperturbed by the unexpected darkness.

“Good thinking, Yuki,” said Haruhi as Yuki passed the flash light to her. She didn’t even question why Yuki had thought to bring a flash light with her, or where she’d been keeping it, for that matter. “Now let’s see if we can go and figure out what’s going on.”

There was a sudden loud crunch that certainly hadn’t been caused by anyone in their group. It sounded like the crunch of stone.

“Wh... what was that?” Mikuru stammered.

Haruhi swept the beam of the flash light over the exhibit in front of them. The lid of the middle sarcophagus had moved. It was now partly open.

“No way...” she breathed. She sounded scared, but the excitement was still there. This was exactly what she’d been waiting for.

“That... wasn’t like that before... was it?” asked Kyon nervously.

Stone scraped against stone as the heavy lid opened further, answering Kyon’s question. The group watched wide-eyed and open-mouthed as a hand appeared through the gap, pushing the lid completely open, followed by a head, then a torso...

Mikuru screamed. The beam of light bounced and spun as Haruhi dropped the flash light. It came to rest with the beam pointing forward, still partly illuminating the mummy that was rising from its tomb.

Avery couldn’t stop staring. She felt like she should probably run, but her brain didn’t seem to want to send the right signals to her legs. This could not be happening. She’d worked this exhibit every weekend for almost a year now and nothing unusual had ever happened during that time.

So why now? Was it really because it was what Haruhi wanted? Was there actually something more to what Kyon and Itsuki had been talking about? Did that mean that Haruhi was more abnormal than she’d thought? Just what was it about her that made her so special?

And more importantly, was this mummy friendly or was it going to kill them all for disturbing its eternal sleep? Avery was sincerely hoping it wasn’t the latter...


	3. Here Comes The Punch Line

The S.O.S. Brigade watched in horror as the mummy climbed all the way out of his tomb and began shuffling towards them, groaning and outstretching stiff, millennia-old arms.

"This is really happening..." breathed Haruhi, sounding half fearful, half awed.

Next to her Kyon was determinedly muttering, "This is _not_ happening. This cannot be happening."

Avery wasn't sure who she agreed with. The inquisitive, supernatural-indulged part of her couldn't imagine anything more fascinating than a real mummy actually come back to life. But that same part of her - the part that had also seen loads of bad horror movies - reminded her that mythologically speaking, when mummies came back to life, they were never in a friendly mood. And they were dangerous.

The latter was clearly what was foremost on Itsuki's mind too. A deep frown creased the forehead of his usually smiling face. "Everybody keep back."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Kyon managed to mutter, in spite of himself. It was extremely hard to think straight what with the whole mummy crisis unfolding before them. As well as the fact that Mikuru was whimpering and clinging to his arm.

In fact, the only one who didn't seem at all perturbed by the situation was Yuki. Avery knew that the bookish girl never showed much of an emotional span at the best of times, but this wasn't exactly your everyday problem. This was much, much bigger. Not to mention completely unnatural.

Avery was still sure that her eyes must have been deceiving her. But no matter how many times she closed and then opened them, the same ever-looming scene was still there to meet her. Was this really the same mummy that had been part of this exhibit the whole time Avery had worked here, as well as long before that?

Her eyes scrutinised the ancient figure that was still shuffling towards them at a bare snail pace, as the S.O.S. Brigade backed further away - without real light, where could they begin to run to? The age-old bandages were greying and stained, black spots of tar and dark mass seeping through. But it was the mummy's right shoulder than suddenly caught Avery's eye.

The gauze covering it was fraying and starting to fall loose - she could see it even in the poor light cast by the thin beam of the flash light lying on the floor. That wasn't possible. The Ancient Egyptians' handiwork was flawless. No way would the bandages unravel like that, even after thousands of years. Something was amiss.

Avery swept her gaze downwards, really taking in the mummy's appearance. The pattern of the bandages grew messier further and further down its body. She could just make out the gauze flapping completely loose around the mummy's feet. She was also certain that the Ancient Egyptians had never worn sneakers. Everything suddenly became clear. She stepped forward, towards the mummy, retrieving the flashlight from the floor.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Miss Shimizu, please be careful!"

The mummy mutely reached a hand towards Avery and Mikuru squealed behind her. Avery turned and shone the flash light in the mummy's face. It stopped, the half-raised hand moving instead to shield its face. Avery was sure that an ancient, undead figure hell-bent on some kind of revenge or wrath wasn't going to be deterred much by a mere flash light.

As it raised its arm, there was a flash of silver. Avery reached and grabbed one of the bandages. It unravelled as she pulled, revealing a very alive hand. The glint of silver turned out to be a shiny wristwatch.

"Hey, that's not a real mummy!" Haruhi exclaimed.

No sooner had she said it, all of the lights suddenly came back on and filled the room once more. In the better lighting, they could see just how badly the mummy's - or man's - bandages were wrapped. Slithers of blue security uniform could be seen poking through between the edges.

He then started laughing. "Oh, man, that was definitely worth sitting in that crypt for two hours."

"Who are you?" asked Kyon, still stunned.

"Can't you tell? I'm part of security detail," explained the man, unwinding the gauze from around his head. Underneath was a jovial face, the blue eyes still dancing with amusement. "Rimu and I hatched this plan as soon as she found out you kids wanted a twilight visit."

"Rimu?" Haruhi repeated curiously.

"That's my mom," Avery chimed in helpfully. She was only slightly bemused by the guard's revelation - part of her wasn't surprised to hear that her mom was one of the masterminds behind that little trick. Rimu Shimizu had always had an odd sense of humour.

"How did you know that the mummy wasn't real?" Itsuki asked her.

"The bandages were coming loose," explained Avery. "A real mummy wouldn't have been so poorly prepared, no matter how much time had passed. Then I spotted his sneakers when he was closer."

The guard laughed. "Spoken like a true professional. You're gonna embarrass me."

"Well, the gauze at least looks authentic," Avery commended. "Where did you get it?"

"Just regular gauze from the pharmacy. Stained it all myself with tea leaves," the guard replied proudly. "I work in a museum - I may only be security, but I can't be caught doing half a job."

"Huh. Then you could have tied the bandages better," Avery pointed out.

The guard laughed again. "Ouch. You're definitely your mother's daughter."

"Of course she is," said Rimu's voice from behind them. They all turned to see her with a big smile plastered across her face, and the other walkie-talkie in her hand. "Sorry, kids. You have no idea how hard it was not to laugh when you were trying to get through to me."

" _Mom_!" Avery protested. Though she was used to her mother's sense of humour, she hoped that the rest of the S.O.S. Brigade wouldn't hold the practical joke against Rimu or herself.

"What? You kids think it was funny, right?" Rimu prompted the other club members brightly.

Avery noticed a couple of them exchange glances before they all looked toward Haruhi. Apparently, her opinion was the only one that was important, just like how things usually played out within the club. Avery had a feeling she could understand why.

Haruhi actually looked thoughtful for a few moments, then her face split into a huge grin. "It was brilliant!" she exclaimed. "You really had us going there."

The others almost seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Avery couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Haruhi hadn't been impressed that it had turned out their walking mummy wasn't real. Oblivious to it all, Rimu beamed. "Well, I figured that was the sort of result you kids were looking for. Sorry it wasn't actually real though - at least it had you going for a little while."

"Totally!" Haruhi agreed enthusiastically. "It was kinda spooky, but I wasn't actually _scared_ , if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, right. You were totally scared," Kyon muttered under his breath.

Rimu laughed. "I'm glad it worked to some extent then. But I'm afraid we're going to have to boot you guys out now, so we can put the exhibit back together and then close up shop."

"Can you actually get away with someone climbing in and out of a sarcophagus that's thousands of years old?" Avery asked pointedly.

"Of course not," replied Rimu. "The real one's been put away safely. We replaced it with a fake just for this evening." 

Wow. Avery hadn't even noticed the difference. Either she'd simply been having too much fun to pay enough attention to the exhibit or she was starting to slip. She really hoped it wasn't the latter.

"You really went all out," Kyon commented. "Where'd you manage to find a fake crypt at such short notice?"

"Well, it is nearly Halloween," Rimu smiled. "You'd be surprised what some people get for their houses to celebrate the occasion. I hope we haven't scared you kids off visiting again though - please feel free to stop by any time. The mummies will stay preserved, I promise."

"If they want to get up and walk around though, you don't have to stop them," added Haruhi, making Rimu laugh again.

"Alright, I'll be sure to give them free reign," Rimu promised, amused. "And Avery, I'll be home in about an hour."

"I'll put some dinner on ready for you," said Avery.

"You're a star. See you later, kids."

"Your mom's pretty cool," Haruhi commented as they left the museum.

"She definitely has a weird sense of humour," Avery replied, though she was actually quite thrilled. She knew first-hand how difficult Haruhi could be to please.

"I really did think that mummy was real for a moment there. It was so exciting!" Haruhi exclaimed. She continued to chatter away enthusiastically as they walked.

Avery apparently wasn't the only one who had wondered what would have happened if Haruhi hadn't been so happy with the practical joke. Amidst Haruhi's excited babble, she heard Itsuki mention quietly to Kyon, "At least it looks like there won't be any repercussions from this evening. Even if it wasn't quite as expected, Miss Suzumiya still got what she wanted."

The way he said it made these 'repercussions' sound more sinister than just a mere hissy fit on Haruhi's part, if things hadn't gone her way. Avery glanced curiously back at the boys, but besides an agreeable grunt from Kyon, neither of them said anything else about it. Avery guessed that they would have been on the unfortunate end of more of Haruhi's bad moods than she had.

"We totally need to do something else spooky for our next club activity," Haruhi decided.

"What happened to the slumber party idea?" Kyon pointed out. "You were all set on that an hour ago."

"That's old news," said Haruhi dismissively. "We need something more exciting than that. Avery, what do you think we should do?"

"Me?" Avery asked, surprised. She would never have expected Haruhi to put much value in her opinions.

"Of course you! I said Avery, didn't I? Who else?" Haruhi laughed. "You helped us out with the museum visit, so come on, we need ideas!"

"Oh, erm, right..." Avery racked her brains, trying to think of something that could please their impatient club leader. She couldn't help but think that this was a golden opportunity for her. The museum visit had been the club's first activity since she'd joined. Maybe she could use this moment to suggest some things that she thought would be interesting. After all, wasn't that what the S.O.S. Brigade was supposedly about? Hunting for mysterious phenomena? "Um... we could try a ghost walk?"

Haruhi definitely seemed interested. "You mean like through a cemetery or something?" Avery nodded. "That's a great idea! That'd definitely be spooky - especially if we did it at night!"

"Wouldn't most cemeteries be closed at night?" Kyon asked practically.

"But you can actually book real ghost tours! Especially around Halloween," Haruhi insisted. She looked thoughtful for a few minutes and then her eyes lit up with a maniacal glint that most of the Brigade - Kyon and Mikuru in particular - had grown to fear. "I've got it! We should all spend the night in a haunted hotel! It's perfect - it combines the slumber party _and_ the ghost hunting aspect!"

Like usual, she didn't ask what anyone else thought of the idea. Instead, she started reeling off a list of where to look online for locations, what they should bring with them, what else they could do to make things even spookier - either calculating things out loud or expecting someone else to take notes.

"We'll do it next Friday!" she decided. "I want to decide on the best one for us to stay in, so I'll give you all the details on Monday. Meet in the clubroom after class and don't be late; any of you!"

"And who's the one who's usually late?" said Kyon pointedly. As usual, he was ignored.

**XXX**

On Monday afternoon, Haruhi was last to the clubroom, as Kyon had predicted. She flounced in with no way of greeting and threw herself into a chair, a frown etched across her face. "All the haunted hotel deals are so expensive! It's stupid - who do they think are going to pay those prices?"

"It's nearly Halloween. What do you expect?" said Kyon indifferently.

"I still think it's stupid," Haruhi huffed. "Now what are we gonna do?"

"You could just stay in a hotel that's _not_ haunted and get over it," said Kyon sarcastically. He'd noticed that Mikuru looked particularly relieved that the haunted hotel plan didn't seem to be going ahead anymore. Unwillingly, however, he'd given Haruhi a new idea.

"Wait a minute," she said slowly, the cogs turning in her head. "Just because a hotel isn't publicised as being haunted doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't a few ghosts still lurking around. If we find the creepiest looking hotel in town, then I'm sure we'll still have a few ghostly encounters."

"I think that's just wishful thinking," said Kyon sceptically.

"Of course it isn't! For that, you have to find us a hotel!" Haruhi decided. "And don't do half a job either - make sure you get us the creepiest hotel you can find. Look for one that's dirt cheap too. They probably won't charge much if it's haunted."

As always, Haruhi's logic was ridiculous. "If a hotel's dirt cheap, then it's probably because it's a hovel," Kyon pointed out.

"Well, avoid those then! Just find us somewhere suitable," Haruhi ordered bossily.

"Yes ma'am," Kyon muttered sarcastically.

**XXX**

With Haruhi not around to breathe down the back of his neck, Kyon was actually able to find them a hotel for the night. It was old-fashioned and moderately priced. The reviews for it were all good and there were no mentions of any supernatural goings-on. Kyon was sure that wouldn't deter Haruhi - she'd likely just be more interested in looking at the photos on the website. Despite the positive reviews, it really did look more on the creepy and rundown side.

Haruhi was certainly pleased once she'd gotten a look at it and insisted on doing the booking herself - now that Kyon had done the 'boring' part of searching, as she so eloquently put it. So that Friday evening, the S.O.S. Brigade met at the hotel with their overnight bags. Haruhi spoke to the man at the front desk whilst the others mulled in the lobby, no doubt wondering how this night was going to turn out. Haruhi soon rejoined them with two room keys.

"Okay, guys, we're in rooms 311 and 313 on the top floor," Haruhi enlightened them. "I made sure we got rooms next door to each other, but for now, we can all just hang out in one of them. So let's go!"

They took the tiny rickety elevator to the top floor, barely cramming in with all of their bags. Avery decided that Kyon had definitely done a good job. The musty elevator looked and smelt like it would have belonged in a number of bad horror movies. Haruhi was easily the most excited about it. She practically raced down the third-floor corridor, jamming a key into the lock of one of the rooms and throwing the door open.

The room itself was pretty basic - neat, plain and a little more modern than the rest of the hotel's interior. There was a lot of beige on beige. And brown. And, Avery noticed, only three beds.

Kyon noticed this too, as Haruhi threw her bag onto the bed closest to the door and announced that it was hers. "Erm, I don't know if you've noticed, but there are only three beds in here."

Haruhi jumped down next to her bag. "Yeah, so?"

"So are you guys gonna share or something?" asked Kyon, nonplussed.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, it's one room for girls and one for guys, right?"

Haruhi looked at him like he was crazy. "Of course not! Do you know how hard it is to get a room with four beds? Plus if any of the ghosts we see happen to be malevolent, then you guys are gonna have to step up and protect the girls. So we're gonna mix and match!"

"Are you serious?" Kyon gaped. He knew that Haruhi had been known to change out of her gym outfit in a class full of people - both girls _and_ boys - but surely she knew this was pushing typical boundaries a little too far.

"Yeah, you're gonna be in this room with me and Mikuru. And Yuki, Avery and Koizumi will be next door," Haruhi explained without looking up, now more interested in rummaging through her bag.

"Wait, what?" Kyon spluttered, a slight hint of pink hitting his cheeks. He was rooming with Haruhi _and_ Miss Asahina?

"What? It's not like we're gonna be doing much sleeping anyway," Haruhi pointed out, starting to pull a variety of snacks out of her bag. "And we're all friends here. Don't be such an old lady, Kyon."

Kyon wasn't the only one bothered by the idea. Avery felt nervous. It had still only been recently that she'd made the effort not to be a social recluse. This was definitely stretching her comfort zone. Mikuru looked highly embarrassed about it too. Like always, Itsuki and Yuki were the only ones who didn't seem disconcerted by the situation. It still wasn't enough to faze Itsuki's trademark smile and Yuki simply looked bored by the whole thing, as usual.

"Anyway, let's all get into our jammies and make this a real slumber party! Then we'll tell scary stories until the ghosts wake up," Haruhi grinned, producing a flash light from her bag and shining it under her face.

So they all changed into their nightwear, taking it in turns to use both bathrooms to do so, before reconvening in the first room. Though Avery felt a little awkward sitting in her lacy white nightdress in front of the boys, she felt much happier about having a ghost story session. She loved telling ghost stories. She knew some great ones originating from England and South America. She was perfectly happy to do that all night, rather than having to settle into the awkward sleeping arrangements.

She didn't have to worry about that for quite a while. They spent the next few hours swapping scary stories. Mikuru was the only one who didn't participate. She was already nervous having to sit in the dark - Haruhi had insisted on turning all of the lights off - and it was clear even by the dim flash light that she was trying really hard not to hear anything they were saying. Even Yuki volunteered a monotonously told story about a shadow-man sighting. If anything, her toneless voice made the tale even more chilling.

But, like most things, Haruhi eventually grew bored. She'd admitted earlier on that she was hoping telling ghost stories would lure out some spirits. But there were either no ghosts in the hotel or they just weren't listening. Haruhi was now flicking the flash light on and off, the erratic light illuminating the scowl on her face. Mikuru had fallen asleep leaning back against one of the beds a while ago.

"This is boring! We should have seen or heard at least something by now," Haruhi complained.

"Maybe that's showing you there really aren't any ghosts here," said Kyon. Yet again, Haruhi humph'ed and ignored him.

"They say that spirits are shy. Maybe they don't like showing themselves around strangers," Avery suggested helpfully.

"Well, that's dumb. You'd think they'd appreciate the stories we've been telling," said Haruhi.

"Maybe they'd prefer a good comedy," Kyon jested dryly. "I'm sure ghost stories get old if you're a ghost."

"Don't be stupid, Kyon."

" _I'm_ the one who's being..."

Kyon didn't finish his sentence because Mikuru moved in her sleep and turned so that her head fell against his shoulder. Kyon stiffened and shifted slightly, embarrassed and unsure what to do. This seemed to irritate Haruhi even further, because she suddenly flicked the flash light off and switched on the lamp behind her, getting to her feet in the same movement.

"We'd better put Mikuru to bed," she said abruptly. "I guess you guys can all go to bed too. This was a waste of time - it doesn't look like we're going to see anything tonight." She pulled Mikuru none-too-gently away from Kyon. "Come on, Mikuru, we're all going to bed."

Mikuru mumbled something groggily and allowed herself to be dragged unsteadily to her feet. Haruhi didn't say another word to any of them - she just forcefully directed Mikuru towards the bed in the far corner. Everyone else decided to follow suit and got up too. Kyon sighed. Once again, Haruhi's ridiculous desire for unusual happenings had gone unsatisfied.

"Night, guys," he bid the others who were leaving for the second room, since Haruhi was now too busy sulking to bother doing so.

Nothing else was said as the three of them migrated next door. Whenever Haruhi was in a bad mood, it somehow seemed to fill the atmosphere. Her personality really was all-encompassing, Avery decided as she climbed into her own bed. She turned so that she was facing away from the wall and pulled her long, strawberry-blonde hair round so that it covered the whole of her back, just in case.

"Well, goodnight then," Itsuki said cheerfully from the bed nearest the door. His optimistic nature seemed to be hard to kill.

"Goodnight," said Yuki in her usual blank voice from the far corner.

"Yeah, goodnight," Avery replied, somewhere in the middle of the room, sincerely hoping that it would be. Knowing their luck the spirits would probably come out to play as soon as they were all asleep.


End file.
